Washington (CNN) – Tea party leaders are turning to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, to deliver their message following President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, a speech that will compete with the official Republican response.

Paul will make his remarks soon after Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, wraps up the GOP response Tuesday night, a Paul spokeswoman confirms to CNN.FULL POST

Charlotte, North Carolina (CNN) - Reince Priebus pledged to grow his party by making direct appeals to minority and young voters as well as dedicating campaign resources to try and win in traditional Democratic states, as members of the Republican National Committee re-elected him Friday to a second two-year term at their Winter Meeting.

"We must compete in every state and every region, building relationships with communities we haven't before," he said. "At the RNC, we are dropping red and blue analysis. We must be a party concerned about every American in every neighborhood."FULL POST

Charlotte, North Carolina (CNN) - At one point, the banging of the drums and the screeching of the horns could be heard two hotel ballrooms away. The band warming up down the hall was loud enough Thursday night that it distracted some in the audience, but not Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who, at hyperspeed, laid out his vision for the Republican Party and the nation.

"We have to stop looking backwards," Jindal said in his headlining speech at the Republican National Committee Winter Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. "We've got to boldly show what the future can look like with the free market policies we believe in."

Charlotte, North Carolina (CNN) – A task force charged with identifying winning political strategies and broadening the GOP's appeal with minority voters will deliver its recommendations in March to the Republican National Committee on what steps the party needs to take going forward.

"We have real challenges and we did get whipped," in the 2012 election, Mississippi National Committeeman Henry Barbour said at the RNC's Winter Meeting in Charlotte. "That is not something we take lightly."FULL POST

Washington (CNN) –– The chair, perhaps the most famous chair in political history, stands in the office of a large, nondescript cement building just a stone's throw away from the U.S. Capitol.

That's right, the chair Clint Eastwood used as a prop in his rambling and at times incoherent critique of President Barack Obama at the Republican National Convention is now one of the many pieces of political memorabilia in Reince Priebus' spacious office on First Street in Washington.

Washington (CNN) – A bright spotlight will shine on first lady Michelle Obama Monday as inauguration watchers focus on her clothes, new hairstyle, and to what length she has gone to shield her children from the public eye.

But beyond the pomp and circumstance of the inaugural festivities, the first lady will play a role in helping to try and advance her husband's policy goals over the next four years through a fractured Congress in a divided nation. The first sign of this came on Friday when she appeared ">in a video broadly explaining how the Obama for America campaign will transform into an issues advocacy organization as CNN reported earlier this month. The video was emailed to supporters Sunday afternoon with a note from the organization's new executive director.

Watch CNN's comprehensive coverage of President Barack Obama’s second inauguration on CNN TV and follow online at CNN.com or via CNN’s apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. Follow our real-time Inauguration Day live blog at cnn.com/conversation. Need other reasons to watch inauguration coverage on CNN's platforms? Click here for our list.

Washington (CNN) – Days after President Barack Obama is sworn-in for a second term, Republican leaders from across the country will assemble in the southern city where Obama accepted his party’s presidential nomination in September to strategize a path forward for the GOP in a nation experiencing major demographic shifts.

It will be a three-day discussion focused primarily on how to grow the Republican Party by convincing black, Hispanic and Asian voters that the GOP better represents their values than the Democratic Party, according to a party official involved in the planning of the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - The National Rifle Association released a new television commercial Tuesday night charging President Barack Obama of hypocrisy for being "skeptical" about placing armed guards at schools, while his own two daughters are protected by the U.S. Secret Service.

"Are the president's kids more important than yours?" a narrator says in the 30 second ad. "Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools, when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school."FULL POST

Washington (CNN) – President Barack Obama’s campaign operation is about to be fired back up just a few months after helping him win a second term with a new mission to assist the president in promoting his top legislative goals and progressive issues.

Senior Obama campaign aides are currently working on the specifics of how to restructure Obama for America, but are considering several different options such as converting it to a 501c4 or perhaps a super PAC, a source familiar with the campaign said.FULL POST